James Malcolm was born on 12 December 1891 in Beith, Ayrshire. In January 1912 he had an “illegitimate” daughter with Dorethea Armour; sadly Alice Hay Malcolm died in May 1913. It remains speculative but perhaps the event prompted James to migrate to Australia in 1913, settling in to 59 Hyde St in Footscray.Â
As a Scotsman he gravitated to the newly set up Footscray Thistle, a second division outfit and was a prolific scorer for them. Perhaps reflecting the values of the level at which he played, he once filled in (and indeed scored!) for the opposing St Kilda team.
Enlisting early in the war, he was killed in action on Hill 971 at Gallipoli on 8 August 1915 at the age of 23, and was buried in Gelibolu, Canakkale, Turkey.
No memorial or photograph seems to exist for him in his adopted community. Moreover, his AIF records are unusually minimal and uninformative.Â
An October death notice for him in the Footscray Independent claimed that his sister Jane Somerville Malcolm lived with her husband James Young in Railway Parade, Footscray but records are indeterminate.
